electrathon

I use a lot of the same folders. They work well. X-ray film is great too.

http://www.siegelleather.com/Default.aspx

You would be hard pressed to find an upholstery shop without a steem generator. Works miracles on wrinkles.

Out of curiosity what are you making that the thread is wearing in two on? Shoes are a very high wear item and thread always sits directly on the surface of them and it is not really a problem. Aaron

He has moved back east. His California shop is gone. I think he narrowed his busness to mainly bookbinding and runs out his home now. I just got the hides a week ago. Aaron

I have some veg tanned goat that is wonderfull. Very strong, nice and firm, plenty stiff, feels awsome. It ozes quality. It is used in bookbinding. Not cheap. 7.50 ft #2 Caramel Smooth Goat Steven Siegel s.siegel@siegelofca.com

It looks to me like your leather is too wet and likely a dull knife. A strop will not sharpen a knife, it keeps a knife sharp.

First off, your bag look great. Here is the trouble though with pricing by the hour for work. It took you 23 hours to make it. That translates to $540 price range. Once you do 10 more (and get better at them, both in speed and quality) will they be worth less (you were faster) or more (you did better work)? In a year you buy a sewing machine. You trim 10 hours off the construction time, are they now worth 30% less? Products are worth whatever people will pay for them. That may mean $200 or $2000, but it is not directly relevant to how long it took you. What is relevant is are you are willing to spend the time to do the job to sell it for what it is worth.

A problem from the quality of the splitter at the tannery. Up to you if you accept it for the work you do. Quality leather looks similar on the front and rear sides.

Buy them at the dollar store and toss the plastic end.

I am glad you posted that because I thought you meant the cuts were closing, not opening. I see no problem here at all. You are going to end up beveling around the flower and it will hide any difference in line variation that is there. Your cut lines look good.

Chrome tanned is "hot pressed" in. Sort od like a brand, but not as hot.

Special order. You will likely have to get it from a cobbler supply. Far to strong to sell to the public.

My hat is off to you. Your post shows a lot of character and respect for others.

Renia contact cement. Cobblers use it to glue the soles on shoes (without stitching) and it does not let go.

It went the next day.

One thing you really need to consider it that it is not just how long it takes you to do something, it is how good your work is. If it is taking you 2 hours to make your cuff and I can do a better job in 30 minutes, is yours or mine worth more? And with all sensiivity, you need to pactice more. Think of it this way. If you went to the store, would you buy it, and how much would you pay?

First, I did not know that white soap worked, have always used yellow. When I do it I get the leather wet, then rub the bar of soap along the edge. As to the discolorization, I would soap up the whole piece. That is what it is made for. It likely will darken it, but it will be darker everywhere and well conditioned.

Dye it dark brown (chocolate), then black.

Chuck, First I want to say that you do amazing work. Your tooling is top notch. I have one critique to interject that sucked my eye right in. Your angle on the basket weave chages throughout the case. Some of it is tipped down to the right, some to the left. The angle tipped up (or down) also changed througout the case. If you are OK with this issue, forget what I said. To me, the changing angles make it look like it was factory produced by differant toolers. Aaron

Not a direct answer, but on my 29K4 it only works properly on the side without the indent. I always assumed it was for a larger bobin that I did not have.

You did well on the tutorial. I would suggest you posting an pic here of the actual size images for others to use. Did you sew the bottom of each card slot to the one behnd it so the the deph of each slot is stagered?

What kind and thickness of leather did you use for the outter, tooled surface? Also, what leather do you use as lining leather? Your work looks great.

First thing to try is move to a cement floor and set your rivet there. It will answer your question about the stability of the serface.

Center the overall length.